Written by Danni Reshef. English Translation by Irit Katriel.

The security zone in South Lebanon was established, in its present form,
in 1985 when the I.D.F withdrew from Lebanon after a 3-year war. It was
established in order to protect the Israeli settlements along the northern
border from the main threat they faced at the time - the Palestinian
organizations and their repeated attempts to penetrate Israel and perform
terror attacks. For these groups, the target was Israel. The security zone
was seen as an obstacle on the way.

The security zone was established on three principles. the first is a common
foe. Most of the people of South Lebanon had no problem with fighting
against the alien and disliked Palestinians.
The second principle was the security of people and property. In the sea
of anarcy, killing and fighting between the different groups in Lebanon,
the security zone was an island of peace and security, compared to the
rest of Lebanon.
The third principle was economic. The Israeli border had opened for the
people of South Lebanon. A flow of goods, funds, job opportunities and
high salaries (in Lebanese terms) brought business opportunities and
economic well being to South Lebanon.

In 1991, as a side effect of Syria's participation in the Gulf war on the
American side, the Lebanese regime was reconstructed. This changed
the reality in South Lebanon. The Palestinian organizations, Israel's
main enemy, which were viewed as a threat to Lebanon's stability, were
forced to leave the country. The struggle against the Israeli presence
was taken up by the Hizbullah, which claimed a legitimate right to
resist a foreign occupator of Lebanese territory. This enabled Syria
to satisfy its allied state of Iran, to avoid conflict with the US over the
support of terrorism and to harm Israel, which is in fact an occupator
of South Lebanon.

As a result of the new political balance in Lebanon, the focus of the
threat to Israel has changed from attacks on Israel itself to attacks
on the Israeli forces in the security zone. Current attacks on Israel
are almost always a result of civilian casualties in Lebanon that are
an inevitable occasional side effect of the war. It is also not the desire
of the Hizbullah, which views itself as the protector of the civilians.
These attacks on Israel are brought by firing missiles. A threat that
the security zone does not answer.

The three principles on which the security zone was established have
collapsed. The enemy is, for 75% of the South Lebanese population,
a relative - by family, cultural and religious ties.

The stability and security have returned to Lebanon, and only in its
South the war goes on, with its price in life and property.
Lebanon is developing financially, and is investing in the South three
times what Israel is, but is including in these activities only those who
have not teamed up with Israel. The result is an attractive alternative
to collaboration with Israel.

In summary, the I.D.F is fighting in Lebanon in 1999 in order to protect the
northern settlements from an enemy who has never tried to cross the border
into Israel, and is doing this in the framework of rules and understandings
that bring a threat to the northern settlements only when the war brings the
inevitable civilian casualties in Lebanon. This threat cannot be answered by
the existence of the security zone. The reality in which the security
zone was established, no longer exists. The middle east has changed
time and again. But the Israeli governments did not change the perceptions.

They did not reexamine the facts, and did not seriously examine other
alternatives. Including that of immediate withdrawal from South Lebanon.
 

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Danni Reshef was recently released from the I.D.F after serving as an
intelligence officer for 10 years, most of which he spent in Lebanon.